Fairwater Runners Cwmbranhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk
enOur next race: Twmbarlwm Terror - check it out!http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/our-next-race-twmbarlwm-terror-check-it-out
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/f%202.jpg?itok=xgF7OOeS"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-large" src="http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/f%202.jpg?itok=xgF7OOeS" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Our next race, to be hold on Sunday November 4th will be the Twmbarlwm Terror - check it out:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/twmbarlwm#overlay-context=content/twmbarlwm">http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/twmbarlwm#overlay-co...</a><br />
<a href="https://www.entrycentral.com/twmbarlwm-terror">https://www.entrycentral.com/twmbarlwm-terror</a><br />
</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 10:57:28 +0000Roger Mills897 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/our-next-race-twmbarlwm-terror-check-it-out#commentsSouth Wales 100http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/south-wales-100
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>South Wales 100Race Report</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/photos/SW100_1.JPG" /></p>
<p>It’s eleven o’clock at night, and I’ve been on the go for 28 hours, but it being just past mid-summers day it’s still surprisingly light. I pause to admire an owl hovering over the next field, its flat face silhouetted in the dusk (or possibly moonlight) and marvel in the rarity of such an occurrence. Where else other than an overnight ultra race (or two nights in this case) would you ever see such a thing?</p>
<p>It’s past midnight on the second night, and my “I AM A MACHINE” mantra is starting to sound a little hollow. I don’t <em>feel</em> like a machine, I feel like a puny human who can barely keep his eyes open to stay awake, but I still have about 10 miles to go. I joke with the checkpoint volunteers that I’m going to call it a day here and pack it all in and just go to sleep. Clearly, as they don’t know me from Adam, they’re not sure if I’m joking or not and threaten to just push me out the door, but not to worry, there’s no way I’m quitting now – I got this!</p>
<p>But I’m getting ahead of myself – time to rewind....</p>
<p>Back in December just between xmas and new year I had a “fuck-it” moment and entered the race – 100 miles from Cardiff up into the Brecon Beacons and back in a continuous loop – my local area and involving my favourite mountains, it was calling out to me. I was going to just enter the recces and decide later, but couldn’t see the button on the payment page so just signed up for the lot – all 4 recces plus the race – this shit just got real, suppose I’d better start training!</p>
<p>Training went well up to a point, the recces were a godsend on the day, I was very glad to be able to recognise certain areas and mistakes that had been made on the recces and not make the same mistakes on the day. About 6 weeks before the event I was given a free place in Newport Marathon – flat as a pancake and on the road, the complete opposite of all my training but I went all out and smashed it in 3:28 (which for me is a great time!) – but here my problems started. My right hip decided not to work anymore and I was struggling to walk. I had entered a 50 miler as my last big training run the following week, and as I’m a tightwad I didn’t want to lose the place so went and did it anyway with a dodgy hip. I got round but it wasn’t pretty and it didn’t do my hip any favours. So after that race I did not train at all for the 5 weeks prior to SW100 other than a quick 7 mile tester with the fell running club during which I dragged my poor leg behind me and felt more and more disheartened.</p>
<p>Anyway, about 2 days before race day, my hip stopped hurting and I decided to go for it. The race starts at 7pm on the Friday night and I got to the HQ in good time so I could have a good relax and eat plenty of pasta before setting off. I dosed myself up with a couple of ibuprofen in order to mitigate any hip problems and met with a few familiar faces (both from the recces and previous races) and the atmosphere at race registration was relaxed and good natured. The weather was perfect, clear skies and sunshine forecast all weekend.</p>
<p>7pm on the dot, and off we go – around 40 people set off into the distance, I intended to start very slowly so as not to aggravate the hip and managed to maintain a comfortable trot for the first few miles.</p>
<p>I won’t go into vast detail with a blow by blow account as that would just be boring, but suffice to say I enjoyed (almost) every minute. I got chatting to a few other competitors and we stuck together for a few miles and then we’d split, and maybe meet up again later – it was very ebb and flow and natural, and we had a good chat with a few other guys who would join and leave the group over the next few hours, one particular subject I remember well was – “what’s in your drop bag?”. Oh how I was fantasising about my pot noodle waiting for me at Ystradfellte!</p>
<p>Coming down onto the A470 off Fan Frynach towards the halfway point I started to feel a pain like a bruising in my left foot, in the metatarsals and decided to take some more painkillers at the checkpoint. I washed down 2 naproxen with some soup and carried on, expecting the pain to reduce a bit, but to my surprise the pain vanished completely! My Garmin had died by this point and one of the guys (Pete) at the checkpoint very kindly offered to loan me his power pack. I thanked him but refused as I was comfortable with the route from here, and figured I would recharge at Trefil. Going up towards Pen Y Fan I left the guys I had been running with behind, expecting to maybe see them later but they never caught me back up and I spent the rest of the race by myself apart from at the checkpoints.</p>
<p>Pen Y Fan, Cribyn and then Fan Y Big were really tough – the sun was really beating down and I had to have a sit down at the top of Cribyn for 5 to try and recover. In my mind the next climb was the big test – If I could get over Tor Y Foel, then I would have cracked it. Pete was also at the next checkpoint at the foot of Tor Y Foel and this time I accepted the offer to loan the power pack – I figured I could get some charge into the Garmin in my backpack whilst I pushed on to Trefil and it would mean less time needed to charge at Trefil. I ended up spending about an hour at Trefil having a pot noodle and trying to get 40 winks whilst waiting for the Garmin to charge. Had a good chat with one of the organisers (Ben) who said – just lean forward and shuffle, 3 miles an hour for the next 10 hours – job done! He made it sound so easy! I took this advice to heart many times over the next 30 miles, and that really helped me through the night – cheers Ben!</p>
<p>And here we pick up with the owl....</p>
<p>Wildlife spotted en-route:</p>
<p>· An owl mid-hunt</p>
<p>· The biggest bull I’ve ever seen – he was HUUUGE!</p>
<p>· A coughing sheep (as well as countless other sheep)</p>
<p>· A frog/toad</p>
<p>· Dragonflies</p>
<p>· Bats</p>
<p>Leaving the last checkpoint at Caerphilly was tough – I was half asleep and feeling a bit footsore – 2 guys who had just left the checkpoint before me shot off before I could leech onto them, and maintained a good speed so I couldn’t catch them. The final hill up to Craig yr Allt was ok, but the descent was horrible. My headtorch was fading and I kept almost tripping over and almost went over on my ankle a few times. Getting back to the Taff Trail was a big relief as I knew it was straightforward from there. I changed out my torch batteries (which I should have done much earlier but hey-ho) and trotted to the finish. I even managed a bit of a run to the finish line, where Joe awaited with my medal and a handshake – all very low key and for a minute I thought there was nobody there to see me finish!</p>
<p>But I’d done it! I’m really happy to have finished what is considered to be one of the toughest 100 mile races in the UK and in challenging conditions. I think I’ll get a tattoo :)</p>
<p>I just have to say a big THANK YOU to all the organisers and checkpoint volunteers who were brilliant throughout the event. The vegan sweets were much appreciated even though I only had a small handful at each CP.</p>
<p>Race time: 33:19:13</p>
<p>Position: 17<sup><font size="2">th</font></sup> of 27 finishers. (10 DNF)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 26 Jun 2018 12:47:55 +0000Roger Mills896 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/south-wales-100#commentsRace Report - Westcountry Hilly 50http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/race-report-westcountry-hilly-50
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Some thoughts on the West Country Hilly 50 ultra race.<br />
19/05/18.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> I suppose I was a bit blasé going into this race - mainly because I was using it as a "Training Run" for the South Wales 100 mile race that I have booked for June (22nd).<br />
I hoped to be able to run this 50 miles "comfortably" and still have something in the tank with the thoughts of running another 50 on top. How wrong I was! For fear of "stating the bleeding obvious" 50 miles is a bloody long way!<br />
Also, I was a little nervous because I feel like I hadn't fully recovered from Newport Marathon 2 weeks hence; I had a large blister on the ball of my right foot which hasn't fully healed (although it wasn't painful to walk on) and I had spent the previous week hobbling with a dodgy hip.</p>
<p> It was a beautiful sunny cloudless day at the start of the race, on the seafront at Minehead. This is a very low-key affair, with only about 20/25 runners and the start was very relaxed, people chatting and awaiting the race director to give us a briefing before a 10:30am start.</p>
<p> The route follows the coastal path for a while before heading inland, up to the highest point (Dunkery Beacon), before looping back and returning to the coastal path and back. This was a last-minute change to the route following some problems with land-ownership or permissions with the original route, but as I hadn't done the race before it didn't bother me. And it meant that the 3 aid stations would be visted twice, once on the way out, and again on the way back.</p>
<p> The first 5 or 6 miles were great, running along the coastal path quite often in the shade of some trees meant that it wasn't too hot. There is a big descent down Bossington Hill at around 5.5 miles and I thought this would be fun coming back up at 45... good training for Pen Y Fan ascent on the SW100. I reached the aid station at the bottom of the hill (mile 6) in good spirits, grabbed a few cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes and pushed on.<br />
The second aid station was at 8.5 miles, so quite close to the first one - I didn't really need anything, so just had a quick water refill and pushed on. It was getting warm now, out in full sun. At about 13 miles in I made my first Nav error - even though I was following the trace on my Garmin, at a fork in the road I took the right fork instead of the left. As I wasn't too far off the line I figured I would just rejoin a bit further ahead. Unfortunately it started to go further off-course and required a drastic adjustment down through some woodlands to rejoin the course. For some reason being off-course caused me some anxiety and my heart started racing, almost like a panic attack. Of course it's not really possible to get lost with a Garmin trace on the watch but I was annoyed with myself for being off-course.</p>
<p> Aid station 3 was at 20 miles and I was starting to feel a bit queezy at this point. I gulped down a bit of water melon, some coke, some water and plodded on towards the big climb of the day at Dunkery Beacon. It was at this point just beyond the aid station that I vomited - entire contents of stomach released, and plodded onwards. The climb was horrible, slightly off-course but heading in the right direction again caused me some anxiety but managed to get back on course and get to the top. When I got to the top I had to have a sit down for 5 minutes trying to give myself a talking to. To make matters worse a bystander at the top decided it would be a good idea to have a chat with me about running - i'm afraid i wasn't in a good space and I think he eventually got the idea and left me alone. I pushed on again and vomited again, actually this seemed to make me feel a little better. Another competitor passed me and asked how I was, and gave me some kind words of encouragement to carry on. Another group that I bumped in to reminded me that earlier in the day the Race Director had christened me "ultra-beard of the race" and therefore a DNF was off the table. (I was serioulsy considering packing in at this stage - I was less than halfway in and feeling terrible.)</p>
<p> I jogged down the hill to the halfway mark, chatting with a few other competitors and death-marched back up the hill towards the turn off back to aid station 3. I had run out of fluids and with a very dry mouth struggled into the aid station and had a lie down. When I got back up I felt very light-headed and almost fell over! Had a sit down for a few minutes and the kind lady at the aid station put some cold water on my hat, I had my bottles re-filled one with water one with coke, ate some more water melon and a handfull of nuts and continued onward.</p>
<p> At this point about 30 miles in I actually started to feel a little better. I stopped worrying about nutrition, the terrain was a little more forgiving and I was able to get into a comfortable jogging pace for a while. However, long before the next aid station I had again run out of fluids and was parched by the time I reached there at about mile 38. I refilled my bottles, one with water one with coke, grabbed a pretzel and continued, again feeling quite good and jogging at a comfortable pace. It's fairly flat between here and the final aid station and I made good time, made 1 slight Nav error but nothing drastic and reached the final aid station feeling Ok if a little zoned out. The guy at the aid station asked me if I would like my face wiped down and I just looked at him blankly - I just couldn't process what he was saying to me. I asked him to repeat himself, apologised for being zoned out, refused the face-wipe, grabbed a few baby potatoes (which I couldn't eat) and cracked on for the final leg.<br />
The big climb back up Bossington Hill wasn't too bad, got to the top just as the sun was setting so stopped to admire the view, and get my headtorch out ready for the final few miles.<br />
I was still running at this point and overtook a couple of people, managed to run the final few flat miles into HQ and was quite pleased to be told I was in 10th position.</p>
<p> SO in summary:<br />
50 miles is a long way, not to be taken lightly!<br />
I fucked up my nutrition (again), didn't eat anywhere near enough. (See list below).<br />
Suffered badly in the heat, ran out of fluids on a number of occaisions.<br />
Managed to finish (relatively) strongly, ran most of the last 20 miles.<br />
Hokas rock! Apart from a pre-existing blister (from Newport Marathon) my feet were fine (ok a tiny extra blister on ball of right foot).<br />
DID NOT feel like running another 1 mile at the end, never mind another 50!</p>
<p> NUTRITION<br />
From my own supplies:<br />
x2 Mr Tom bars<br />
x1 energy bar<br />
x1 pack of Shot Blocks<br />
From aid stations:<br />
x3/4 slices of watermelon<br />
x2 baby potatoes<br />
x3/4 cherry tomatoes<br />
x1 pretzel<br />
x1 small handfull of salted nuts</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> <br />
</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 21 May 2018 18:08:17 +0000Roger Mills895 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/race-report-westcountry-hilly-50#commentsRACK Raid 2018 Updatehttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid-2018-update
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The 2018 RACK Raid information has been updated - please visit the page for more info.<br /><a href="http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid">http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid</a><br />
</p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 13 Apr 2018 20:13:32 +0000Roger Mills894 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid-2018-update#comments2018 Membership Formhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/2018-membership-form
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The new 2018 Membership form can be found on the About Us page:<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/about-us">http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/about-us</a><br />
<br />
</p>
</div></div></div>Sat, 17 Mar 2018 07:51:51 +0000Roger Mills893 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/2018-membership-form#commentsRACK Raid 2018http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid-2018
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Preparation has begun for the 2018 version of the RACK Raid.<br />
Keep an eye on our page for further information over the coming weeks.</p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 22 Feb 2018 14:59:20 +0000Roger Mills892 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid-2018#commentsDoes the club want to put on the Bog & Bryn race in 2017 (see member pages for more details)http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/does-club-want-put-bog-bryn-race-2017-see-member-pages-more-details
<div class="poll">
<div class="text">Bog &amp; Bryn same as 2016</div>
<div class="bar">
<div style="width: 21%;" class="foreground"></div>
</div>
<div class="percent">
21% (3 votes)
</div>
<div class="text">Bog &amp; Bryn 2017 in a different format</div>
<div class="bar">
<div style="width: 71%;" class="foreground"></div>
</div>
<div class="percent">
71% (10 votes)
</div>
<div class="text">Bog &amp; Bryn cancelled in 2017</div>
<div class="bar">
<div style="width: 7%;" class="foreground"></div>
</div>
<div class="percent">
7% (1 vote)
</div>
<div class="total">
Total votes: 14 </div>
</div>
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 08:23:40 +0000Roger Mills872 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/does-club-want-put-bog-bryn-race-2017-see-member-pages-more-details#commentsNext race - Tony Jennings - 27/12/16 at The Lamb, Penyrheolhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/next-race-tony-jennings-271216-lamb-penyrheol
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Look at our Tony Jennings page for more info:<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/tony-jennings-memorial-race">http://www.fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/tony-jennings-memori...</a><br />
<br />
</p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 22 Dec 2016 00:32:54 +0000Roger Mills871 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/next-race-tony-jennings-271216-lamb-penyrheol#commentsRack Raid 2016 Resultshttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid-2016-results
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-rss"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><a href="/sites/default/files/results/RACK.RAID.RESULTS.2016.pdf" target="_blank">Rack Raid 2016 Results</a></p>
<p>If you notice any errors please contact us.</p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 07 Jun 2016 06:34:58 +0000Roger Mills856 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/rack-raid-2016-results#commentsContact detailshttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/contact-details
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 17:17:53 +0000Jeanette852 at http://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.ukhttp://fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk/content/contact-details#comments